An open source question and answer site inspired by Stackoverflow.

• Licensed under the Apache 2.0 License
• Runs on ASP.Net
• Uses the MVC (Model-view-controller) pattern (ASP.Net MVC)
• OpenID for login
  • Using DotNetOpenAuth
• Forms Authentication Cookies for login sessions
• RESTful back-end API
  • Using MVC Web Api
  • API Keys to help prevent Cross-Site Request Forgery
• Simple, clean and mobile friendly front-end website
  • Using Twitter Bootstrap 3
• SSL
• Markdown for posts, questions, comments etc.
  • Syntax Highlighting using Google Code Prettify
    • Fully User customizable themes (with optional presets)
  • Implemented with PageDown and MarkdownSharp
• (Possible) presentation support with impress.js
  • Not even close to being implemented yet

##Open ID##

• Easy to implement with DotNetOpenAuth
• Does not transmit user credentials.

##Front-End (TheFlow.Site namespace) ##

• Smooth and mobile friendly using Twitter Bootstrap 3
• Authentication using DotNetOpenAuth
  • With Forms Authentication
• SSL enabled
• Date formatting with moment.js

##Back-End (TheFlow.Api namespace) ##

• RESTful
• Uses API Keys to prevent CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) attacks (Not implemented)

##Code Style##

• Every public or protected property, member, type, interface or method should use Pascal Case
• Every private property, member, type, interface or method should use Camel Case
• Comments for properties, members, methods, types or interfaces should use XML Comments

  •   ```
     	///<summary>This is an integer used for etc.</summary> [newline]
      public int MyInt;```
    

  •   ```
      ///<summary>This is an integer used for etc</summary> [newline]
      private int myInt;
      ```
    

• Acronyms (HTTP, GUID, etc.) in member, method, property, class or interface names should start with a capital letter, but all of the other letters of the acronym should be lower case.
  • Not UserID but UserId
  • Not HTTPContext but HttpContext
  • Not SomeJSONData but SomeJsonData

##Data Storage Scheme##

The Database system is based on Entity Framework Code First, therefore no database is actually included in the project. When you first start the site it will probably give you an error about the database. This is because none of the migrations (incremental changes) have been applied to the database. To solve this go to the Package Manager Console, set the default project to TheFlow.Site and type Update-Database then press Enter. This will apply changes to the database based on the code files in TheFlow.Site\Migrations, therefore updating the database to a version with no conflicts.

To make changes to the tables, edit the entity classes in TheFlow.Site\Migrations and then type Add-Migration [TheNameForYourChanges] in the Package Manager Console, a new migration file will appear in TheFlow.Site\Migrations detailing how to update the database. Then run Update-Database again to update the database.

ALL queries to the database should go through the 'DbContext' class, this provides the easiest access to the database. And All queries to the database should use LINQ, it provides the easiest and most secure option for queries by preventing Code Injection.

###Entities### These are the entities used by the Entity Framework ORM to provide statically typed access to the DB

• Post, An entity that is used to hold basic information about a general post (Author, Body, Up/Down votes, etc).
  • Answer, An entity that is used for answers to a question (Holds a reference to the Question).
  • Question, An entity that is used for questions (Title, Number of Views and the Accepted Answer).
• Comment, An entity that is used for comments on a Post (Author, Body, Id, etc).
• User, An entity that is used to hold information about a user (OpenId, Email, Display Name, Reputation, etc).
• Star, An entity that is used to mark a question that a user likes (User, Question, Id).
• Edit, An entity that is used to define an edit to a Post (New Body, Original Post, etc).
• Vote, An entity that is used to hold information about a vote on a post (Voter, Post, DateVoted, etc.)
  • UpVote, An entity that is used to hold information about an Up Vote on a Post (No new information added from Vote)
  • DownVote, An entity that is used to hold information about a Down Vote on a Post (No new information added from Vote)
• Preferences, An entity that is used to hold information about a User's preferences (CodeStyle, etc)

##Question Presentation Format

• Every Question's body uses Markdown for formatting.
  • Implemented on the client side with PageDown
  • Implemented on the server side with MarkdownSharp
  • Uses a custom Html sanitization solution with HtmlAgilityPack (see TheFlow.Site/HtmlSanitization)
  • Uses Google-Code-Prettify for syntax highlighting
  • Uses Moment.js for easy 'Posted X Minutes/Hours/Days Ago' formatting